Soybean Association Hires Aquaculture Scientist

US - The Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) has hired Tony Schuur, a professional aquaculture scientist, to help manage the group's aquaculture market development programme.

Aquaculture is a growing area of interest with a promising outlook for the state's soybean farmers. As with other segments of animal agriculture, many fish and shrimp species have shown strong performance with soy protein included in feed rations.

"Soybean farmer checkoff investment in aquaculture is relatively new, but we are very optimistic about the research results we've seen," says Doug Winter, farmer from Mill Shoals, and ISA director. "Soy offers numerous valuable properties to freshwater and marine fish feed rations, which means aquaculture could provide soybean farmers with another potentially large market."

Mr Schuur says the substitution of soy in aquaculture diets is paramount for furthering expansion of aquaculture in the US and throughout the world. "I have experience formulating shrimp diets that replace the critical fishmeal component with other protein feed constituents," he explains. "Such replacement is important to demonstrating a sustainable future for aquaculture, as fish meal becomes increasingly scarce and costly. Feed sustainability is one of the constant objections cited by many that oppose expansion of aquaculture production."

Mr Schuur's most recent consulting experience includes eight years as a supervising environmental scientist with James M. Montgomery Consulting Engineers and more than 20 years as an independent consultant. He has assisted with the planning, design, implementation and technical management of both shrimp and finfish aquaculture facilities in the US and numerous foreign locations in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.